A weather “roller coaster ride” is coming to the Northeast as snow closes schools

The wintry mix and rain sweeping across the Northeast continued Monday as another run of bad weather hit the region later in the week, meteorologists said.

Most of the region saw any wintry precipitation turn to intermittent rain as temperatures crept higher during the day Monday, AccuWeather says.

As of Monday afternoon, all National Weather Service winter weather warnings for the Northeast had expired as rain became the dominant form of precipitation.

The brief warm-up will provide a few days of respite before the next wave of storms.

“A rollercoaster of a forecast is in store across the Northeast this week,” said AccuWeather meteorologist Brandon Buckingham. He warned of “the potential for an impactful storm late this week into the weekend that may contain accumulating snow and very cool air.”

The good news is that rain across the Mississippi and Tennessee valleys into the mid-Atlantic states and southern New England will provide some drought relief across parts of the Northeast, AccuWeather said. But the forecast also says storm surge warnings are possible. Buckingham said a blizzard could develop Friday and Saturday along the East Coast.

Developments:

∎ Meteorologists expected weather across the lower 48 states to remain mostly warmer than normal through Dec. 28, except for a few colder-than-normal days from the 21st-23rd. December.

∎ Some schools in western Massachusetts and Connecticut were closed Monday and others opened late due to snow.

∎ Some areas as far south as Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia woke up to snow on Monday.

East wintry mix could make travel difficult: And yes, it was a tornado in Calif.

Details of this weekend’s storms have not yet been released

“Small shifts in the expected storm track will play a significant role in the forecast going forward,” Buckingham said. “It is worth noting that there could be consequences for holidaymakers if the storm takes a track near the coast.”

After that storm, look for “very cool air” to grip the Northeast as Christmas Day approaches, he said.

The West Coast could see more nasty weather

The Pacific Northwest, which dealt with strong storms last week that included a tornado Saturday outside San Francisco, could also face a prolonged run of nasty weather.

AccuWeather meteorologists warned that over the next week or more, some areas of the northwest coast “will not escape the flurry of rain and mountain snow as the overall weather pattern suggests further storms are likely.”

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The weather ‘roller coaster’ is coming to the Northeast; snow closes schools